Buzz Spector is an artist and critical writer whose artwork has been shown in such museums as the Saint Louis Art Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA, and most recently, Rockford Art Museum. Spector's work makes frequent use of the book, both as subject and object, and is concerned with relationships between public history, individual memory, and perception. He has published a number of artists' books and editions since the mid-1970s, including, most recently, Buzzwords, selected interviews with Spector and new page art, issued by Sara Ranchouse Publishing, Chicago, in 2012. Other Spector publications include White Insistence, a limited edition collaboration with poet Michael Burkhart self-published by the artist in 2009, and Time Square, a limited edition letterpress book hand altered by the artist and published in 2007 by Pyracantha Press and ABBA at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Spector was a co-founder of WhiteWalls, a magazine of writings by artists, in Chicago in 1978, and served as the publication's editor until 1987. Since then he has written extensively on topics in contemporary art and culture, and has contributed reviews and essays to a number of publications, including American Craft, Artforum, Art Issues, Art on Paper, Hand Papermaking, and New Art Examiner. He is the author The Book Maker's Desire, critical essays on topics in contemporary art and artists' books (Umbrella Editions, 1995), and numerous exhibition catalogue essays including, most recently, Shona Macdonald: siding with things ( Zillman Art Museum, University of Maine, 2021) and Monika Weiss: Body of Drawings (Center for Polish Sculpture, Oronsko, National Institution of Culture in Poland, 2021).

Spector received the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Awards in 1982, 1985, and 1991

Calendrical
1989
Encaustic on 30 open blank sketchbooks
54 x 47 x 3 in (137.2 x 119.4 x 7.6 cm)

After Ansel Adams
2024
Altered found book with collage elements, framed
Made from a copy of Ansel Adams: “The National Park Service Photographs,” New York: Abbeville Press, 1995
9 x 21 in (22.8 x 30.5 cm)

Displacement: After Lawrence Weiner
2024
Altered found book with collage elements, framed. Made from a copy of Lawrence Weiner: "Displacement (exh. cat.)," New York: Dia Foundation, 1991
17 x 27 in (43 x 65.6 cm)

Antonioni
2024
Altered found book with collage elements
Made from a copy of Ian Cameron and Robin Wood,
Antonioni, CT: Praeger Publishing, Revised Edition, 1971
6.5 x 12.5 in (16.5 x 31.8 cm)

From the Desk of
2024
Altered found book with collage elements, framed.
Made from a copy of Hal Drucker and Sid Lerner, with photographs by Sing-Si Schwartz, "From the desk of," New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1989
10 x 20 in (25.4 x 50.8 cm)

Sails and Sailing
2024
Altered found book with collage elements, framed. Made from a copy of Franco Giorgetti (ed.), "Sails and Sailing", Mystic CT: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1999
20 x 26.5 in (50.8 x 67.3 cm)

Spirit of Sail
2024
Altered found book with collage elements.
Made from a copy of John Dyson, with photographs by Peter Christopher, "Spirit of Sail," New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1987. First American Edition
12 x 12 in (29.2 x 45.7 cm)

After Ebony G Patterson
2024
Altered found book with collage elements, framed.
Made from a copy of Ebony Patterson … "while the dew is still on the roses” …, New York: Prestel Publishing, 2019
9.5 x 16.5 in (20 x 20cm)

Painting # 1
1997
Altered found book with collage elements
21-1/2 x 17-1/2 in (framed)

20th Century Section
2023
Altered found book. Made from a copy of Clifford,
Henry. The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection: 20th Century Section," Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1954
10.5 x 15 in (26.7 x 38.7 cm)

Ego
2020
Altered found book.
Made from a Chinese language copy of Holiday, Ryan. "Ego is the Enemy,” Nanchang, China: Jiangxi People’s Publishing House, 2019
8 x 11 in (20.3 x 27.9 cm)

Who?
2008
Altered found book with cover and slipcase art by Jim Nutt. Made from a deluxe slipcase version of Dennis Adrian, et. al. "Who Chicago? An Exhibition of Contemporary Imagists," Sunderland, UK: Ceolfrith Gallery, Sunderland Arts Centre, 1980. Deluxe Edition published by Lawrence Aronson, with silkscreen titles by Jim Nutt
8.5 x 16 in (21.6 x 40.6 cm)

The Polaroid Book
2024
Altered found book
Made from a copy of Steve Crist, ed. And Barbara Hitchcock, "The Polaroid Book: Selections from the Polaroid Collections of Photography," Los Angeles: Taschen America, 2008
9 x 12.5 in (22.9 x 31.75 cm)

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